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May 2, 2011

Carson Wealth Management to Leave LPL, Launch Independent RIA, BD

Ron Carson says RIA to come first for the firm, which has $3 billion in assets under advisement

Carson Wealth Management Groupwill launch an independent registered investment advisor (RIA ) and broker-dealer (BD). The firm has “$3 billion in assets under advisement,” according to a news release on Monday. Carson Wealth Management announced that the RIA is to be launched “in July,” followed by the BD “in late 2011.”

Currently, Carson Wealth Management is an LPL-affiliated broker-dealer which uses LPL Financial Securities and LPL Financial to “co-manage” accounts and for “advisory services,” according to its website.

“We realize that the marketplace is demanding more and more from advisors. We want to continue to stay ahead of the competition and this required a move to our own RIA,” said Ron Carson (left), Carson Wealth Management founder and CEO, in a statement. “I am excited to announce this new endeavor designed to further support our clients, and couldn’t be more thrilled to continue our relationship with LPL who has been, and will remain, a trusted partner.” Carson is an LPL Financial registered principal.

The firm will continue its exclusive clearing arrangement with LPL Financial when the new BD is established. LPL will be the primary custodian for the new RIA, and the firm will continue to custody assets at TD Ameritrade and Schwab Institutional as well.

“We are delighted to further our 20-year relationship with Ron and to support his efforts in continuing to provide a cutting-edge experience to all of his clients,” Bill Dwyer, president, National Sales and Marketing at LPL Financial, stated in the announcement. “As one of the nation’s leading independent broker-dealers, custodians, and providers of clearing services, we are pleased to support virtually every business model available to providers of independent and objective financial advice, including those with their own RIA or at a separate broker-dealer.”

In an email to AdvisorOne on Monday, Dwyer said via a spokesman: “We have the unique ability to clear for both a broker-dealer and an RIA.” Dwyer wrote that he expected that “all of Ron’s advisory assets that are custodied with LPL today under our corporate RIA will stay custodied with us under his own new RIA on our RIA platform.”

The situation is the same with Carson’s BD assets; Dwyer said, “we expect that all of the brokerage assets that LPL custodies and clears for Ron today will continue to be custodied and cleared by us when Ron establishes his own broker-dealer.”

In addition, “We will help Ron grow more assets from existing clients as well as new clients. We intend to attract the incidental assets Ron’s new RIA firm has custodied elsewhere to our platform,” Dwyer wrote.

Dwyer noted in the email that the “average AUM per RIA firm,” at LPL is “approximately $118 million. He added that “overall advisor retention rates are industry leading, at well over 96%.”

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